The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between burnout and work engagement among employees in the pharmaceutical distribution industry. The research conducted on these concepts was geared towards adding to the knowledge base in the field of industrial and organisational psychology, to enable the current organisation from which the sample was chosen and other organisations in South Africa to focus on the effect that burnout has on employees, which directly affects the company. A quantitative survey using primary data was conducted on a convenience sample (N = 204) of full-time employees in a South African pharmaceutical distribution company. The Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey model (MBI-GS) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) model were used to gather data. The work engagement-burnout continuum has received a great deal of research attention (Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003; Schutte, Toppinen, Kalimo, & Schaufeli, 2000) that has produced contradicting results. One viewpoint regards the core constructs of work engagement and burnout as opposite poles of two continua (vigour-exhaustion and dedication-cynicism), labelled energy and identification, respectively (González-Romá, Schaufeli, Bakker, & Lloret, 2006). Work engagement is ”characterized by a high level of energy and strong identification with one’s work”, while burnout is ”characterized by the opposite: A low level of energy combined with poor identification with one’s work” (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003, p. 5; Bakker, Schaufeli, Leiter, & Taris, 2008). Hence work engagement and burnout can be recognised as inseparable and co-dependent constructs that share more or less 10 to 25% of their variance and are moderately negatively related (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004; Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá, & Bakker, 2002). The second viewpoint regards work engagement and burnout as being strongly related, but fundamentally different in their separation in the work experience. They are therefore not opposite poles of a continuum (Denton, Newton, & Bower, 2008; Huhtala & Parzefall, 2007; Rothmann & Joubert, 2007; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004; Schaufeli et al., 2002). Work engagement is defined as a ”positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterised by vigour, dedication, and absorption” (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004, p. 295). Burnout, however, is defined by Maslach and Jackson (1981, p. 99) as a ”syndrome of emotional exhaustion and cynicism that occurs frequently amongst individuals who do ‘people-work’ of some kind”. The statistical results of this study confirmed the hypothesis. It was found that there is a significant relationship between burnout and work engagement. Burnout is indeed negatively related to work engagement in the contact centre. However, a definitive relationship between burnout and work engagement in the distribution centre was not established. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Comm. (Industrial Psychology)

The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for provision of essential medicines for the district health services. A qualitative descriptive, exploratory and contextual action research design was followed. The data collection was conducted through site visits and semi structured interviews targeting the responsible pharmacists who were purposively selected on the basis of their expert knowledge and experiences from the eight of the nine provinces of the Republic of South Africa which is a developing country with limited resources for provision of healthcare services. The study found that there was no standardised framework for provision of essential medicines for the District Health Services. Based on the site visits and action research findings a proposed framework covering the selection, procurement, warehousing, distribution and management support components for provision of essential medicines for district health services was developed and subjected to national pharmaceutical experts and district health services managers review and critique which is finally presented, after taking into consideration the experts inputs as a proposed framework emanating from the study. The proposed framework will contribute towards improving the provisioning and availability of essential medicines within the district health services. / Health Studies / D.Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)